"Dwight Stewart" wrote in message
link.net...
"Mike Coslo" wrote:

It's not as lucrative as you make it sound, Dwight.
Also, these people are reasonably well off, retiring
with money equivalent to upper middle class or
better. (snip)


I have no idea how lucrative it is. An acquaintance (hard to call this
guy
a friend) works for a mortgage company and just loves to talk about the
shady side of that industry. The company he works for (a nation-wide
franchise chain) just switched to more agressive foreclosure practices
and,
based on the stories he tells, I most certainly would not want to be a
customer of that company. Of course, this company has always had
questionable (in my opinion) foreclosure practices. He told me years ago
(late 80's, early 90's) that, mainly because of increasing property
values,
it was far more profitable to foreclose on older properties than to
maintain
the mortgage. As such, the company used every opportunity to foreclose on
those mortgages. Today, according to him, long term mortgage foreclosure
offers the most gain. Therefore, they now actively seek those who have the
greatest possibility of foreclosure years from now, such as the elderly,
those with speading habits that suggest possible credit problems down the
road, and so on. Now, since I don't work in that industry, I have no idea
if
this is entirely true or even widespread. But, I've seen enough written
about these types of practices to suggest there is at least some truth to
it.

The key to being successful is having some way of estimating who would be in
trouble approximately 5 years or more down the road not the person who is
currently in trouble or on the ragged edge of currently being in trouble.
Then the property has had time to appreciate enough to be able to turn a
profit.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE

N2EY wrote:

That's a Yankee frugality philosphy. I've been repeatedly told it's
"old-fashioned" and "out of date"....

And will continue to be old fashioned and out of date well after the
proponents of the "New accounting" are in the breadlines.

- Mike KB3EIA -

On Sat, 22 Nov 2003 19:38:08 GMT, Dee D. Flint wrote:

In reality we rent the place from Fannie May or Freddy Mac, whomever
wound up with the paper..... We know it, they know it.....


But there are advantages. As the owner (even though heavily mortgaged), you
can put up antennas or remodel or whatever without asking the landlord. And
since the interest is tax deductable, you can have a nicer place for the
same money than if it was just a rental.

That's why we bought when we first got together (discounting the
four months it took for us to merge our separate rented apartments
and find what we wanted). When we bought our present place, it
helped that we came in with 50% equity....

--
73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane

From a Clearing in the Silicon Forest
Beaverton (Washington County) Oregon

In article , "Ryan, KC8PMX"
writes:

I think what Jim was trying to say, that if a meal at Ma's diner averages
say for instance $5.50, (and a good meal too) and the corporate conglomerate
Taco Heaven is around $4.50 for instance, in some cases it is worthwhile
supporting the locally owned, Ma's place versus some criminally corporate
organization like Taco Heaven. Support the local business before supporting
the corporate ones.....

That's part of it. But the main point is that we *do* have choices, and if we
choose TH over Ma's enough times, TH will survive and Ma's won't. And we
shouldn't gripe if that happens and we're the cause.

And if you find out that all the corporate ones have squeezed out the family
and/or locally owned ones, then what ever you have left is your own fault if
you didn't support the local ones.

Exactly.

Maybe I am wrong, but that's what I got out of Jim's message, and might not
have explained it the best. Myself? I believe in supporting the local
businessperson whenever and where ever I can FIRST, then supporting the
corporations when a locally owned option is not available. Granted there are
some exceptions to the rule, as for instance, gasoline. At least I research
to find out which ones are locally owned/franchised as opposed to true
corporately owned gas stations.


Screw Corporate Amerika! (before they screw you)

Not about "screwing" anybody - just about making informed buying choices.

73 de Jim, N2EY

In article , "Phil Kane"
writes:

On 17 Nov 2003 01:28:48 GMT, N2EY wrote:

Here's another one for ya: I bet neither of us would have any problem
getting a
30 year mortgage, even though we'd be nearly 80 when said mortage was paid
off
(barring any advance payments). Huh?

We got a 30-year mortgage four years ago notwithstanding that I was
retired on a moderate pension, my wife was an independent contract
employee close to retirement age, and both of us would be over 90
when it matured.

Not only that, we refinanced it last year starting a new 30 year
clock.

In reality we rent the place from Fannie May or Freddy Mac, whomever
wound up with the paper..... We know it, they know it.....

Sure. But you guys and your property are a good risk, you put up serious
equity, and you've got predictable income ahead.

73 de Jim, N2EY

In article , "Phil Kane"
writes:

On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 01:08:51 GMT, Dee D. Flint wrote:

OTOH, there are several "successful" enterprises that we just
wouldn't patronize - Wal-Mart leads that list.

I would go if they had a product I wanted but see no reason to do so if they
are not selling the products that I want.

We do not shop there because we do not like their business attitudes
in specific areas - hiring folks desperate for a job but only for 19
hours a week not to exceed two years' tenure, thereby avoiding
paying much above minimum wage and granting no employee benefits,
certain shenanigans about forced unpaid hours (subject of several
lawsuits across the country), and trashing the local merchants and
moving on whenever they pleased, leaving disaster in their wake.

Our choice.

Exactly. That's what I call behaving like a "customer" rather than a
"consumer".

73 de Jim, N2EY

In article , "Ryan, KC8PMX"
writes:

"Mike Coslo" wrote in message
...
Ryan, KC8PMX wrote:
If your interest rate is less than 5%, the best loan to get is a 30
year!
It's cheap money. Paying off a house quick is foolish. And the monthly
rate is usually a hell of alot less too. Spend the difference of that
paying off bills or invest it in a mutual fund or something.



Ahh, a financial truism! This belongs with:

The stock market ALWAYS goes up!

What goes up must come down as well too.

Not necessarily. Look at where the Dow was when Bill Clinton took office in
1992...

But that is the beauty of the
stock market. It is a cyclical thing. Ideally it would be like a good
sinus rhythm. It is just merely the knowledge of where to jump in at.

Just as important is knowing when to jump *out*.

(It soitanly do, but over long time periods that are not relevant to
most of us who don't live over 150 years. More importantly it is what
the market is doing around the time you take your money out.)

Move your money into high yield accounts shortly before you retire, that
way you'll have more money when you retire!

Buy high, sell low, go broke...

Only if you know what you are doing and have a really good grasp of the
market.

Which absolutely no one has.

I've listened to investment consultants actually pull this one out of
their hats. I know some older folk who have done this and now have
almost no retirement funds.

Yep... not for the weak or feable to try on thier own if not knowledgeable.

The term is "risk tolerance"- a fancy way of saying how ready you are to lose
money. And the rule is simple: the closer you are to actually needing the
money, the less your risk tolerance should be.

I have to chuckle at your truism. first, because your friend the real
estate agent uses those sort of arguments to talk you into buying
several thousand or tens of thousands more dollars worht of house.
Second is that You are saying a person who gets out of debt is foolish.

Actually the person I got this truism from and believe in it is Bruce
Williams, the talkshow host. If you do the math, it is fairly true.

I did the math and it's false enough to be a worthless truism.

Best way to not be a fool is to not go heavily into debt in the first
place. I have a 5 percent loan, but I'll pay it off quickly, I think.

I wouldn't but thats me. What I would do is see if you can refinance at all
to a lower rate. I have actually seen a interest rate recently somewhere in
the 3 percent range!! Talk about a cheap loan, hell, I would
refinance/remortgage my neighbors house if I could legally get away with it!
LOL

Sure - because a house is something you need anyway, it's insured and not
likely to wind up obsolete or useless in a few years. Most of all, almost no
one can afford to buy a house for cash.

Instead of paying off that low interest loan quickly, one is smarter
paying
off the higher interest loans like automobiles, department and credit
card
charges, and other loans/debts.

Again, it's better to not get into a situation where you would have to
choose which loan you're paying off early.

Well, its not paying the principle that kills ya, its the interest that does
over a long time. The lesser the interest rate, the less I am interested in
rushing to pay it off extra early. Either way, one needs to do the math or
find someone who does understand real estate finance and other financal
calculations to make sure in their own individual circumstances.

Exactly - it's all in the numbers for your particular situation.

The biggest financial boo-boos people make a

- confusing "wants" and "needs" (you may need a car, but you want a new SUV)
- not having a budget, or not having one based on real data
- looking at their income out-of-context and saying "I can afford X" without
doing the numbers.

73 de Jim, N2EY

In article , Mike Coslo
writes:

N2EY wrote:

That's a Yankee frugality philosphy. I've been repeatedly told it's
"old-fashioned" and "out of date"....

And will continue to be old fashioned and out of date well after the
proponents of the "New accounting" are in the breadlines.

That's always been my plan.

73 de Jim, N2EY

"Ryan, KC8PMX" wrote

Screw Corporate Amerika! (before they screw you)

EXACTLY!!!!!! You've got it all figured out for sure!

Who the hell do General Motors and Ford and Mercedes think they are
anyhow --- we used to have hundreds of different auto manufacturers? Let's
open a blacksmith shop in our village and build our own cars, like our
grandfathers did! And, yeah, quit buying computers from Dell and
Gateway --- we have sand in our neighborhood --- we can make our own silicon
chips just as well as Intel does! Dole pineapples --- who needs them
anyhow, I bet we can grow perfectly good pineapples here in Minnesota. Who
needs all this corporate crap anyhow?

73, de Hans, K0HB

N2EY wrote:

In article , "Ryan, KC8PMX"
writes:


"Mike Coslo" wrote in message
...

Ryan, KC8PMX wrote:

If your interest rate is less than 5%, the best loan to get is a 30

year!

It's cheap money. Paying off a house quick is foolish. And the monthly
rate is usually a hell of alot less too. Spend the difference of that
paying off bills or invest it in a mutual fund or something.



Ahh, a financial truism! This belongs with:

The stock market ALWAYS goes up!

What goes up must come down as well too.


Not necessarily. Look at where the Dow was when Bill Clinton took office in
1992...


But that is the beauty of the
stock market. It is a cyclical thing. Ideally it would be like a good
sinus rhythm. It is just merely the knowledge of where to jump in at.


Just as important is knowing when to jump *out*.

And there is the problem for those playing the market for their
retirements. They know about when they are going to jump out, but if the
market doesn't cooperate....oh oh!

(It soitanly do, but over long time periods that are not relevant to
most of us who don't live over 150 years. More importantly it is what
the market is doing around the time you take your money out.)

Move your money into high yield accounts shortly before you retire, that
way you'll have more money when you retire!

Buy high, sell low, go broke...

Only if you know what you are doing and have a really good grasp of the
market.


Which absolutely no one has.

I've listened to investment consultants actually pull this one out of
their hats. I know some older folk who have done this and now have
almost no retirement funds.

Yep... not for the weak or feable to try on thier own if not knowledgeable.


The term is "risk tolerance"- a fancy way of saying how ready you are to lose
money. And the rule is simple: the closer you are to actually needing the
money, the less your risk tolerance should be.

I have to chuckle at your truism. first, because your friend the real
estate agent uses those sort of arguments to talk you into buying
several thousand or tens of thousands more dollars worht of house.
Second is that You are saying a person who gets out of debt is foolish.

Actually the person I got this truism from and believe in it is Bruce
Williams, the talkshow host. If you do the math, it is fairly true.

I did the math and it's false enough to be a worthless truism.

If you look at the total dollars spent, you can still pay less money on
some of the higher interest lower cost loans than lower interest higher
priced loans. (although I'd never suggest doing that) It's just the
sheer amount of dollars. So the best bet is to pay all the loans off as
quickly as possible.


Best way to not be a fool is to not go heavily into debt in the first
place. I have a 5 percent loan, but I'll pay it off quickly, I think.

I wouldn't but thats me. What I would do is see if you can refinance at all
to a lower rate. I have actually seen a interest rate recently somewhere in
the 3 percent range!! Talk about a cheap loan, hell, I would
refinance/remortgage my neighbors house if I could legally get away with it!
LOL


Sure - because a house is something you need anyway, it's insured and not
likely to wind up obsolete or useless in a few years. Most of all, almost no
one can afford to buy a house for cash.


Instead of paying off that low interest loan quickly, one is smarter
paying
off the higher interest loans like automobiles, department and credit
card
charges, and other loans/debts.

Again, it's better to not get into a situation where you would have to
choose which loan you're paying off early.

Well, its not paying the principle that kills ya, its the interest that does
over a long time. The lesser the interest rate, the less I am interested in
rushing to pay it off extra early. Either way, one needs to do the math or
find someone who does understand real estate finance and other financal
calculations to make sure in their own individual circumstances.


Exactly - it's all in the numbers for your particular situation.

The biggest financial boo-boos people make a

- confusing "wants" and "needs" (you may need a car, but you want a new SUV)
- not having a budget, or not having one based on real data
- looking at their income out-of-context and saying "I can afford X" without
doing the numbers.

Don't forget succumbing to the credit card problem. It's soooo easy to
live life large when you have 10 credit cards with a 20 thousand liimit
on each card.

One of those nifty little life secrets I've found out is that if you
are willing to avoid spending credit money like a drunken sailor while
you are young, you will have much more money for your toys when you get
older.

- Mike KB3EIA -